1. Field
The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for introducing an additive material into a pressurized fluid flow line. More particularly, the disclosure provides an apparatus and method in which a solid or liquid additive is dispensed within a mixing chamber for mixing with the fluid from the pressurized fluid flow line and is effective mixed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparati for introducing an additive material into a fluid flow line are well known. This includes a dispersing apparatus for metering a dry particulate material into a liquid utilizing a feed rate rod adjustably moveable vertically to stop or meter the flow into the liquid supply. This also includes a dispersing apparatus for metering the dispersing of dry particulate material into a liquid using a cylindrical mixing container, a mixing chamber liquid inlet generally tangentially disposed, a particulate supplying unit having a supply unit outer piping and a particulate supply unit particulate inlet.
Unfortunately, the prior art does not effectively address each of the myriad of handling issues specific to problematic additive materials due the additive's physical characteristics. Additive materials may be difficult to place into solution, may be shear sensitive, may be difficult to “wet” during the blending process, may tend to form unblended collections or unwetted product, particularly in the case of polymers, and may provide difficult to convey to the blending device depending on the volume of additive. Moreover, these additives may be subject to contamination immediately prior to or following a blending event. Further, these additives may pose health issues requiring isolation not only from atmosphere, but from personnel.
It is known in the prior art that dry additives may produce dust and or fumes that present safety and maintenance issues with equipment and may pose a danger to operating personnel who must be in close proximity to the blending process. Dry polymers, for example, tend to dust into the atmosphere during the conveying process and float to surfaces adjacent to the blending equipment, immediately resulting in waste. Upon absorption of moisture from the atmosphere, this dry polymer dust may then form a surface coating presenting both a safety issue for personnel and the need for extensive cleaning to remove the film. Silica sand and other dry additives used in high volumes for hydraulic fracturing in the oil field, for example, are subject to undesirable contamination. During blending of such large volumes, the dust generated carries silica, which poses a health hazard.
It is also known in the prior art that additives create handling difficulties at the beginning or end of a blending cycle when blending with a liquid. The beginning or end of a mixing or blending event would often create partial or complete clogging as there has been no clear method of preventing contact between the product and blending liquid.
Similarly, it is known in the prior art that isolating the moisture-sensitive material from the fluid cylindrical mixing container can prove difficult. In these systems, it has been difficult to prevent moisture migrating from the cylindrical mixing container to the moisture-sensitive material immediately adjacent to the separation point of the apparatus. As a result, over time, the additive material has been known to absorb moisture and clump, preventing a free flowing of product during subsequent feed/blending events.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and method of use which blends a variety of problematic liquid and dry materials into a closed, pressurized liquid line, which permits initiation and cessation of blending events without adversely affecting the process such as by clogging or changes in handling characteristics of the product following periods of inactivity, and which conveys the product to a cylindrical mixing container without contamination from the atmosphere. There is a further need for an apparatus and method of use which conveys the product from large bulk storage without the need of augers, pumps and other mechanical means of transport, which prevents contamination of moisture sensitive materials at the point of interface with liquid, and which precisely controls the delivery rate of product to a liquid mixing process. Finally, there is a need for an apparatus and method of use which precisely adjusts the energy acting on the product during the mixing process and which provides an alternate method of packaging of difficult materials.